The 20 Most Valuable Players in World Football Right Now

The world’s most expensive player. It’s not quite the Ballon d’Or. It’s certainly not the World Cup. But we’re all still kind of obsessed with it, right?

Neymar’s €222m move from Barcelona to Paris Saint-Germain shattered the previous world record in 2017 and looks set to last for a while as the highest price forked out for one player.

However, who sits at the top of the tree for value rather than fee?

Here are the current top 20 most valued footballers in the world right now, as judged by Transfermarkt.

20. Robert Lewandowski – £76.5m

Club: Bayern Munich

Age: 30

Sneaking in at the end of the list – ahead of the likes of Gabriel Jesus and Ousmane Dembele – is Polish goal machine Robert Lewandowski.

If you were after a traditional centre-forward, you wouldn’t look much further than the 30-year-old. Clinical in the air, cool one-on-one, and even adept from set pieces, the Bayern striker guarantees you goals.

19. Gareth Bale – £81m

Club: Real Madrid

Age: 29

A decade ago, you would have got laughed out of the room if you tried to tell a Spurs fan that Gareth Bale (who famously went months seeking his first Tottenham win) would one day become the world’s most expensive player.

But in 2013, following an £85.3m move to Real Madrid, that’s just what has happened. Injuries have slowed his career recently but he’s still a world-beater and still valued at £81m.

18. Paul Pogba (£81m)

Club: Manchester United

Age: 25

Famously, the one who got away from Sir Alex Ferguson at Man Utd.

However, perhaps more famously, he was the one who returned to Old Trafford in 2016 for a world record £89m fee.

He’s divisive, Paul Pogba’s also world class.

17. Raheem Sterling (£81m)

Club: Manchester City

Age: 23

Raheem Sterling was always tipped to be a top footballer ever since his days as a youth player at QPR.

Often harshly criticised for his lack of the clinical touch, Sterling is still one of Pep Guardiola’s most trusted and valuable attacking assets – the same goes for Gareth Southgate’s England.

16. Leroy Sané – £81m

Club: Manchester City

Age: 21

Much like Sterling – also valued at at £81m – Leroy Sané is one of Pep Guardiola’s sharpest weapons.

Blessed with blistering pace and quick feet to match, Sané can scythe through any opposition defence in the world if he’s in the mood.

Most of the world are still wondering how he was left out of Germany’s 2018 World Cup squad.

15. Sergej Milinkovic-Savic – £81.00m

Club: Lazio

Age: 23

Now this writer is not going to say he saw the relatively unheard of Sergej Milinkovic-Savic playing for Serbia in the U-20 World Cup in New Zealand back in 2015, but he did.

And SMS was marvellous. He won the tournament with that team, picking up the Bronze Ball award along the way.

At Lazio, Milinkovic-Savic is quickly becoming one of the hottest properties in European football. Valued at £81m, expect him to move to a top team for a massive fee soon enough, with potential coming at a premium in today’s market.

14. Mauro Icardi – £85.5m

Club: Inter

Age: 25

Mauro Icardi has been about as talismanic as it gets for Inter in the past few years.

With over a century of goals for the Italian club, and now team captain, Icardi has taken steps to becoming a club legend, despite a rift with club Ultras over an ill-advised section of his book.

Oh, and he’s still only 25.

13. Cristiano Ronaldo – £90m

Club: Juventus

Age: 33

Being 13th placed on this list probably quite upsets Cristiano Ronaldo, but he can take solace in knowing that he secured a €100m transfer to Juventus in the summer – which is easily the highest transfer fee ever paid on a player in his thirties.

The five time Ballon d’Or winner just loves scoring goals, and goals are more valuable than anything in football.

12. Romelu Lukaku – £90m

Club: Manchester United

Age: 25

Romelu Lukaku is occasionally criticised for not being the most nimble of footballers. But when you look at his goal scoring feats those observations do seem a little redundant.

At just 25, he’s already Belgium’s all time top scorer. What more do you want?!

11. Dele Alli – £90m

Club: Tottenham Hotspur

Age: 22

An integral member of Mauricio Pochettino’s Tottenham revolution, Dele Alli burst onto the scene in 2015/16 when we was voted the season’s PFA Young Player of the Year.

His chemistry with Harry Kane has helped turn Spurs into genuine title contenders and a fully fledged member of the Champions League club.

10. Paulo Dybala – £99m

Club: Juventus

Age: 24

Valued at a cool £99m, Dybala falls just short of that magical £100m mark.

If he is to raise his price tag, he’ll probably have to adapt well to life in the inevitable shadow of new teammate Cristiano Ronaldo. However, expect the Argentine to be more than capable of doing just that.

9. Philippe Coutinho – £108m

Club: Barcelona

Age: 26

After stagnating just a little at Inter, Coutinho reignited his career during a show-stopping spell at Anfield.

It takes quite something to look impressive alongside Lionel Messi, but since his high-profile January move to Barcelona, the Brazilian has fitted in so seamlessly you might have thought he was educated in La Masia.

8. Antoine Griezmann – £108m

Club: Atletico Madrid

Age: 27

It’s almost been an award in itself over the past decade: the best player in the world after Messi and Ronaldo.

At times, Antoine Griezmann has been a strong contender for this role.

With a World Cup under his belt – and Ronaldo and Messi ageing – it might just be time for the Frenchman to kick on and become the world’s best in his own right.

7. Eden Hazard – £135m

Club: Chelsea

Age: 27

In world football, Eden Hazard might just be the most enjoyable player to watch right now.

Having fun under new Chelsea manager Maurizio Sarri, and fresh off a fine world Cup performance with Belgium, Hazard really does seem to has his tail up of late.

He seems happy enough at Chelsea, but if Real Madrid come calling no one would be surprised to see him dazzle in Spain with Los Blancos.

6. Kevin De Bruyne – £135m

Club: Manchester City

Age: 27

Chelsea fans must shudder every time they think about how Jose Mourinho just let De Bruyne leave London. Well, Chelsea fans probably do a lot of shuddering when they think about former players like that these days.

KDB led City to a record-breaking century of league points last season. He’ll be back from injury soon enough to remind you just how good he is.

5. Harry Kane – £135m

Club: Tottenham Hotspur

Age: 25

‘Arise, Sir Harry.’ For a minute there, it really did seem possible, didn’t it? With Harry Kane leading the line, you can hardly blame England fans for getting ahead of themselves last summer.

He’s looked a little out of sorts since his Golden Boot heroics at the World Cup, but he’s still banging in the goals on a regular basis.

4. Mohamed Salah – £135m

Club: Liverpool

Age: 26

Who would have thought it, huh? Mohamed Salah as one of the greatest forwards in the world. Mohamed Salah as the guy to break Alan Shearer’s Premier League record of most goals in a 38 game season. He managed 32 all up.

You can’t help but like the Egyptian and you can’t help but hope he discovers his magic touch soon, after a difficult start to 2018/19.

3. Kylian Mbappé – £135m

Club: Paris Saint-Germain

Age: 19

Kylian Mbappé is still only 19. That’s just not fair. He’s won a World Cup! He even scored in the final! He’s already almost completed football!

The game probably hasn’t seen a player of this quality emerge onto the scene since Leo Messi, or maybe even Pelé. Just imagine the career this guy is going to have…

2. Lionel Messi – £162m

Club: Barcelona

Age: 31

The £162m valuation seems almost funny. Leo Messi is literally priceless. Arguably the greatest player of all time, Messi is a joy to watch.

It’s a privilege to be part of his footballing generation (even as fan). It may be nice to see Leo spread his wings and play club football somewhere else, but, no matter the price, you can’t imagine him ever leaving Barcelona for another team in Europe.

1. Neymar – £162m

Club: Paris Saint-Germain

Age: 26

You can’t really argue with Neymar being valued as the world’s most expensive player. After all, his €222m move to PSG did literally make him just that.

He’s been at the top for a while now, but you just wonder if others will catch him up before he can surpass the likes of Messi and Ronaldo. Regardless, Neymar is an exceptional talent; at 26 he could conceivably be coming into the best years of his career.